Sir William Ouseley | |
|---|---|
 by H.R.Cook afterSamuel Drummond | |
| Born | 1767 |
| Died | September 1842 |
| Occupation(s) | Diplomatic Secretary, Artist and Linguist |
| Spouse | married (6 March 1796) Julia Frances Irving (daughter of Lt. Col. John Irving) |
| Children | many |
| Parent(s) | Captain Ralph Ouseley[1] and Elizabeth née Holland |
Sir William OuseleyHFRSE FSAScot (1767 – September, 1842), was a Britishorientalist.
Ouseley was born inMonmouthshire, the eldest son of CaptainRalph Ouseley and his wife Elizabeth (nee Holland). He was tutored at home alongside his brother,Gore and his cousin,Gideon Ouseley. All three had notable careers.[2]
In 1787, he went to Paris to learn French, where he laid the foundation for his interest in Persian literature. In 1788, he became a cornet, a junior cavalry officer, in the 8th regiment ofdragoons. At the end of 1794, he sold his commission and went toLeiden to study Persian.[1]
In 1798, he was inCrickhowell, where he eventually published hisTravels and had them locally printed.[3] He married Julia Frances Irving in 1796 and had a large number of children. The eldest was SirWilliam Gore Ouseley, who became a diplomat in South America and a renowned artist.
In 1800,Charles Lord Cornwallis (1738–1805), who had been Governor-General of India from 1786 to 1793, knighted him in recognition of his promotion of oriental studies.[4]
In 1795, he publishedPersian Miscellanies; in 1797–1799,Oriental Collections; in 1799,Epitome of the Ancient History of Persia; in 1800,The Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal (The Oriental Geography ofIbn Hawqal); and in 1801, a translation of theBakhtiyar-nama entitledBakhtiyar Nama and Observations on Some Medals and Gems. He received the degree of LL.D. fromTrinity College Dublin in 1797, and in 1800, he was knighted.[1]
When his younger brother, SirGore Ouseley, was sent, in 1810, asAmbassador to what was then calledPersia (Iran), Sir William accompanied him as his Secretary. In September 1812 he cadged passage onHMSSalsette, then at Smyrna, and with her returned to England in 1813. In 1819–1823 he published, in three volumes,Travels in Various Countries of Middle East, especially Persia (Iran), in 1810, 1811 and 1852.[5] He also published editions ofJohn Lewis Burckhardt'sTravels in Arabia,Arabian Proverbs andNotes on the Bedouins and Wahbys. He contributed a number of important papers to the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature.[1]
He died atBoulogne-sur-Mer.[1]
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ouseley, Sir William".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 381.